A new generation must recognize threat to abortion rights

Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesAnti-abortion and pro-choice demonstrators argue in front of the Supreme Court in this 2011 file photo.

The vast majority of Americans still think abortion should be legal. But with the Supreme Court just one vote away from overturning Roe vs. Wade and a record number of abortion restrictions being passed all over the country, advocates face a new challenge: They must convince the next generation that their abortion rights are in danger.

This is no easy task. We’re talking about the under 30 millenials who don’t remember Roe. They weren’t alive for that Supreme Court case legalizing abortion and they don’t see it as a crucial political issue now.

That’s the problem Nancy Keenan spoke of when she announced last month that she will step down at year’s end as president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, the country’s oldest abortion-rights group. The departing founder of Emily’s List, a national organization to elect pro-choice Democratic women, made the same point. The movement needs younger leaders.

It’s been nearly four decades since state bans on abortion were struck down, and since then, an entire generation has grown up feeling as if the fight is over. This phenomenon has been dubbed “the intensity gap.”

Gallup recently reported the lowest level of self-described pro-choicers in its polling history. It’s not that young people don’t support legal abortions; as a matter of policy, they strongly do. But they’re increasingly shirking that label.

And the political winds are also blowing in the opposite direction. A slew of restrictions on abortion were passed last year, including longer waiting periods, limitations on insurance coverage — even outright bans on the procedure after five months, which were passed in six states in less than two years.

Many of the legislators pushing these measures were elected in 2010, when for the first time in decades, Republicans captured a majority of female voters. Young people, who don’t believe their abortion rights are vulnerable, are more likely to choose their candidates based on other issues.

Meanwhile, the anti-abortion movement has picked up more youthful energy. The annual March for Life in Washington attracts throngs of high school and college students. Marie Tasy, head of New Jersey Right to Life, says she gets a warmer reception these days at public colleges, where years ago students were more hostile.

“One of the questions that really struck me was, ‘Do you think your side is winning because of the internet, because you can show visual images of what abortion is?’ ” she said. “And my answer was, ‘Yes, I do.’ ”

Today’s battle is over the public perception of abortion. The campaign to ban the procedure at 20 weeks is based on a theory that the fetus can feel pain at that point, a fact disputed by mainstream medical experts. But those opposed to abortion aren’t afraid of scientific criticism.

They’re simply out to change the political conversation. It’s the same reason NARAL added “Pro Choice America” to its name: to put more emphasis on choice as opposed to abortion.

It’s hard to win this debate if you’re advocating for taking away a woman’s rights. But if supporters of legal abortion can’t remind young people of what’s at stake, that’s exactly what will happen.